LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The story of the day figured to be Gio Gonzalez's first start wearing a Nationals uniform, but that has been trumped for now by the news of Michael Morse suffering a lat strain during batting practice. Morse, who was supposed to bat cleanup and start in left field, was scratched. The club is officially listing him as day-to-day, but we should get a better idea later how serious this might be.

Morse's injury led to a lineup shuffling by Davey Johnson. DH Chad Tracy, who was supposed to bat seventh, has been moved up to the cleanup spot. Brett Carroll is shifting from right field to left field. And Bryce Harper is now starting in right field and batting seventh. It's the fourth time in five days Harper has started, more than anyone else on the roster.

As for Gonzalez, he'll be on a typical pitch count of 40-45 pitches. He'll also be facing most of the Braves' regulars, including Michael Bourne, Martin Prado, Brian McCann, Dan Uggla, Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward.

No TV or radio, but I'll have plenty of updates live from the Happiest Place on Earth (though the Nats' dugout may not agree with that designation today)…

Bryce has to remember this 12,000 times over, this isn't High School or Junior College. These are MLB starters and AA/AAA types in there. Save those fool-type running plays for your backyard antics when you are 60 years old playing with your grandkids.This is what keeps telling me he isn't ready yet even if he hits .400 at the end of Spring Training.

In spring training, why not press the case and learn what you can get away with, rather than assuming he couldn't beat it out? As for Gameday — you can buy it once and load it on multiple devices. Don't have to pay twice. Go Werth! That must have felt good. Zimmerman is "definitely one of those franchise guys" quoth the Braves announcers. Ya think? At least in the real season we get to hear Charlie and Dave and not Other Guys.

P2P, agreed, with an exception–well, two. Baseball is a game of relentless pressure, and hustle wins games. It also gets you hurt sooner or later, often sooner. Just part of the price of playing. 2–the spring training fields are often not as solid, esp. in Fla., where it rains so much that drainage is crucial.And the E9 on TRACY's hit, not Zim, just got changed to a hit.

Pay to play, I don't see what he did wrong by trying to advance to third on a slow roller. Many speedy players do that.1a, if nothing else works, go to mlb.com, go to video drop down menu, click on watch/listen, select whatever you want to hear or see, and then pay for it.I am thinking of getting MLB.tv this season if I save enough money. Should be fun watching

I would actually be interested in seeing what Lombardozzi could do with some playing time. And how about that Zach Walters kid? Made a fierce play last night! I do think Ian will be fine but we should see what we have in the way of depth at MI.

With my job (which I am about to leave for), MLB.tv gives me the opportunity to see a LOT of west coast games when I get home. Saw the Giants lose last night, outfielder dropped an easy ball, 2 runs came in–speaking of errors.Ah, another HR! Nice going.

Keeping up on gameday while I get some work done. FWIW I couldn't get the gameday audio to take my order either. The BILL NOW won't register when you click on it. Either that, or I am going to end up paying for it multiple times as I have clicked it several times over the last twenty minutes. Nice to see DeRosa joining in the fun.

Hey what do you know ANOTHER Error by Desmond.Last year Desmond started the season with a spate of errors before he settled in, and then he was fine the rest of the season. Perhaps this is a phase he needs to go through on the way to getting ready. If so, it's better that he does it now, when the games don't count.

we need to stop thinking these games don't count. The outcome may not… but the individual performances most certainly do. While I haven't exactly been a Desmond champion, I have liked him. That said I am quickly falling off of his bandwagon…

Well, that's 50 minutes of my life I'll never get back. The mlb.com purchase would not go through no matter which browser I used, whether with an existing mlb account or with a new account. According to a contact at the customer service department, which I called, one can only purchase the gameday service via the web and not via phone. So I guess I'm not getting it. Now I really gotta do some work.

It's good to see Ian Desmond in mid-season form, can't field or hit. There but by the grace of God go Ian. Can't wait until the next off season and he's here next spring and we're all discussing the same thing about him. They say Jesus could make a blind man see. What's to say everyone in Nats' management/coaches, etc., are blind to Desmond. May God bless him…

Les, If what you say is true then Storen would have been demoted last year. In fact the individual performances only count for the handful of players who are on the bubble. The rest of the team is just slowly getting ready for the regular season. As I recall last spring Nyger Morgan had a rough time and people were updating his batting average at bat by at bat. You know what? he ended up hitting reasonably well for the playoff Brewers.

I just have to write this, since I may never get another chance: Very nice inning by Maya. Threw only strikes (he nibbled a lot last year) and took out Bourn with a nice K.Way to go Yunesky!Ok, that's one thing off my bucket list…

Just a quick semi-humorous aside:I saw this post on ESPN's "SweetSpot Blog", of which I'm becoming a big fan. I could care less about video games, but they are describing how great the 2012 update of The Show is, and one of the plugs is how up-to-date the information is. Case in point, Giancarlo Stanton, hitting in his new park, with the "home run feature" fully detailed. (The graphics really are amazing).But in the still-got-a-chip-on-our-shoulder dept, you can very clearly see that he hit it off Gio Gonzalez, with Ramos in the foreground. Paging Rodney Dangerfield… href=http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/21368/review-mlb-12-the-show-better-than-ever

Knoxville Nat said… Pay2Play,Harper had an infield hit last night against the Mets lefty. Lots of talk here and elsewhere about the kid's hustle afterwards. March 06, 2012 2:14 PM Yep, brain freeze. That was the one he went Ichiro on.

Still think Desmond should have been put in CF! He has the range and arm for that position. Esponida at SS and Lombardozzi at 2B and leading-off!Why would we want to turn a SS who can't hit into a CF who can't hit?

I've always been a pretty big supporter of Desmond in the past, but if the Nats really want to take a big step forward toward respectability then you have to look at who the best players are. Would the Nats be better with a Desmond/Espinoza combination or an Espinoza/Rendon (with Lombo covering for a year) combination? I think the answer is becoming clearer by the day. And for all the naysayers, Rendon can certainly become comfortable at second in a relatively short time. Desmond appears to be a locker room leader, but he's going to have to continue this role as a utility player.

Let's let Rendon get a few professional at bats before we hand him a starting job. Looked a little overweight and lazy to me the other day, not running out that foul popup that nearly dropped fair. Wouldn't mind them trading Desmond if they can get decent return, but, while he's here, EspinoSa/Desmond is our best duo.

Good news, on Beast, Mark! Also glad to hear that he "gets worried easy"… I'd much rather lose a few days of a contributor like him, then play trough until some procedure is required. The gorse will be here, waiting for you, Mikey!

I was in Florida for a couple spring games, and I'll say this about Rendon, he looks like a natural. If the ball is in the strike zone, he's going to get a good bat on it. And he's surprisingly fast. He hit a routine grounder to short (not a dribbler) and almost beat the throw. 10% of umps would have mistakenly called him safe.

The reality is that Desmond is going to be the starting shortstop for the Nats. They have gone a long way with him and they will give him this shot, if for nothing more than to give him value in a trade. However, he's got to considtently show value at some aspects of the game. He is not going to stick with this team on "potential" alone. So far, he's no more than average on offense or defense over two seasons, and I have a hard time seeing him delivering in critical situation in meaningful September games. I do hope that they give Espi or Lombo some time at short this spring to hedge against a real melt down by Desi during the season. I know they don't want to do that for psychological reasons, but they need to have flexibility.

Thanks, swami. Maybe the site is dysfunctional today. The guy I spoke to asked me to switch browsers: nada. Then how about clicking the "send me oodles and gobs of emails and special offers" button?: no love. He was very helpful and we tried a bunch of stuff, but I bailed because I didn't want to spend that much flailing around with it. Maybe I'll try again another day, or maybe you and I will both end up with multiple subscriptions. baseballswami said… Keeping up on gameday while I get some work done. FWIW I couldn't get the gameday audio to take my order either. The BILL NOW won't register when you click on it. Either that, or I am going to end up paying for it multiple times as I have clicked it several times over the last twenty minutes. Nice to see DeRosa joining in the fun. March 06, 2012 2:07 PM

Ok, I'll say it since Charlie and Dave were apparently not on hand: "A Curly W is in the books!" Sounds like there were some things to be happy about in this one — Gio, Werth, DeRosa, Harper, Rendon. I like it!

1a,Sorry for your hassle. It literally took 30 seconds for me to get MLB At Bat 12 on my phone, which is the device I use to listen to games.Man, wouldn't it be nice if DeRosa is this year's Capps (i.e. found money)? Wouldn't it be nicer if contention means we won't be flipping him?

Anonymous said… I updated my iPhone from At Bat 11 to 12 this morning and like you NatinBeantown it took about 30 seconds and it was done. ———————————–This is what you need Nats Nation AtBat 12 on your Phone or IPad. It Rocks.

Sec 3, My Sofa said:They're broadcasting the game ahead of time to avoid rush hour crowds at the park. This site is in real time. LOL Sec 3, I almost snarfed my drink. Good thing I was sipping – because it's more of a marathon than a sprint – otherwise the best 25 milliliters would have gone north. Drink up, peeps.

Well, first I'd need to get an iPhone or iPad thingy, neither of which I have or desire.Frediemac said… Anonymous said… I updated my iPhone from At Bat 11 to 12 this morning and like you NatinBeantown it took about 30 seconds and it was done. ———————————– This is what you need Nats Nation AtBat 12 on your Phone or IPad. It Rocks. March 06, 2012 4:31 PM